Happy Ending - Book Report/Review Example

Happy Endings Unless we are psychic or extremely in touch with a higher spiritual world, it is almost impossible for us to be aware of what the nextday will bring. Yes, we can help create a positive or a negative ending, but we cannot guarantee anything. Regardless of what popular belief expresses, we do dictate our reaction to the choices we make, which, can lead to a happy ending. When we look back into the “empty tomb”, could we have changed something or reacted different? In Margaret Atwood’s ‘Happy Ending’, we read about six different endings to from the same story.

However, are humans programmed to analyze life in this form? Atwood writes a great story that includes many twists and turns. The title deceives the reader in that it sounds like the story will be about “endings’ but it is more focused on beginnings. If there is a beginning, there is an ending and it will not always end happily. Atwood uses six different versions of the same story to illustrate her idea. The first version, which is version A is a mutual love between two people, Mary and John meet and fall in love and have a perfect relationship.

It is considered more “Hollywoodish” and the ending is extremely positive. Version B starts with Mary being in love with John but he does not share the same feelings for her. He fakes his relationship with her but really shows no interest in the “them” portion of the relationship. Mary gets real depressed and takes pills in hopes that John would recognize her and be her “savior.” She dies and whilst this relationship is existing, John is accused of dating Madge who he eventually marries.

Version C flips personalities where John is interested in Mary but she does not share the same desire for him. In this version of the story John is an older man. Mary sleeps with him out of pity for him. While John is trying to pursue Mary further, she has another interest by the name of James who is twenty two years old. She likes this guy but stays with John because he can apparently “keep it up” longer than younger men. One day while Mary and James are smoking they get high and climb into bed together.

John mistakenly walks in on them and gets so upset he shoots them both and himself. Madge, who is in love with John mourns him but eventually moves on and marries a guy name Fred. Version D is kind of like a romance novel. Madge and Fred are the ones in love and tragedy strikes but miraculously they both survive. The story continues with version A. Version E is brief and sad. Fred dies of a bad heart and Madge decides that she is going to devote the rest of her life to charity work. The last version tries to explain the reasoning for all the previous versions.

It is clear that there are two main characters in this overall story. Each version always goes back to the ending that version A holds. This ending is a happy ending. But for who? For the main characters, Mary and John? How is it happy if in version B Mary Dies, in version C, Mary and John Die. Therefore, the real survivor and the real person who receives a “Happy Ending” is Madge but is she really happy without Fred? Humans live to recreate dreams. They live to create fantasy. They want to ask the “what if” questions of life.

Death is inevitable in every version of the stories but what is a reaccuring theme is how they get to that point. In order to get somewhere, one must ask the “what if” questions. Humans can choose to do things differently. What matters is the choices they make and what road they choose to reach their decision or make up their minds. Humans are programmed to analyze. In the world of education it is called synthesizing using higher order thinking skills. Sometimes they analyze it via comparison and fantasize about a different or better ending.

Other times they live vicariously through others who seem to have it “perfect” like Fred in each version. No matter what, humans always want things to be different in hopes that that “difference” will be deemed better and more acceptable to themselves, loved ones and society. Works Cited Content, Associated. On Margaret Atwood's Happy Ending. 2011. 24 April 2011 .